Kosovo
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Photo: David Snyder for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Alleviate poverty by helping refugees return and reintegrate into society, teaching families how to start and expand small businesses, and promoting leadership, conflict resolution and job skills training among youth.
The context
Thirteen years after the war and four years after its declaration of independence, Kosovo continues its struggle to emerge as a peaceful and prosperous independent state. Tensions between the majority Albanian and non-majority Serbian populations in Northern Kosovo demand the attention and resources of international organizations. Meanwhile, a continuing economic crisis contributes to 48 percent unemployment — one of the highest rates in the region.
Our work
- Economic opportunity: Providing training, loans and other financial services to small business owners
- Emergency response: Helping families still displaced from the Kosovo war resettle away from lead-contaminated camps
- Children & Youth: Engaging youth in civic projects, internships and activities that promote inter-ethnic cooperation
All stories about Kosovo
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Kosovo: More than run-of-the-mill progress June 29, 2009
The village of Milosheva is a pastoral community of 10,000 residents in the heart of central Kosovo's agricultural lands. It is a typical Kosovo village: still recovering from the conflict of 1999, with high unemployment and few income-earning opportunities for residents.
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Kosovo: Creating opportunities for Kosovo's youth June 11, 2009
Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe, both in terms of its statehood and its demographics. Half of the country’s population is under the age of 25, and many of these young people depart for work abroad or are supported by relatives.
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Kosovo: Resettling internally displaced people November 18, 2008
The armed conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990’s resulted in the displacement of over 800,000 Kosovars. Today, nine years later, it is estimated that 22,000 minorities are still displaced within the borders of Kosovo.
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Kosovo: Six stories from Kosovo February 25, 2008
The population of Kosovo waited more than eight years for final status to be declared. During this time, their lives have been in limbo, jobs have become scarce and dismayed youth have struggled to find hope for their future within Kosovo.
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Kosovo: Ethnic minority families return home February 15, 2008
The Kosovo conflict, which culminated with the NATO bombing in 1999, shocked the world, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
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Kosovo: Kosovo's new beginning February 17, 2007
Mercy Corps is pleased at the resolution of Kosovo’s political and legal status. We are confident this resolution will enable Kosovo to move forward with long-term rebuilding and significant economic and social progress.
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Kosovo: Giving youth a voice January 29, 2007
Mitrovica/Mitrovicë, Kosovo — This is a city divided by a river, by walls topped with sharp razor wire, by heavily armed soldiers and, most of all, by ethnic discord. Some regional analysts have derided the place as "a dead city."
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Kosovo: Rallying around a goal June 15, 2006
Grabovc, Kosovo - The soccer field that lies on the outskirts of town, built by village residents and partially funded by Mercy Corps, might not seem that ambitious when compared to the roads, schools or other large projects being constructed in other parts of Kosovo.
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Kosovo: A liberating chain April 21, 2006
Reqane, Kosovo - What do you get when you put together a dairy owner, a veterinary pharmacist and a woman with a cow? A new economy that works.
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Kosovo: Living and working together in Kosovo August 19, 2005
Nedzat Cecunjanin, a young man from the village of Vitomirice/a, lived side by side with his Albanian neighbors prior to the 1999 war. The nearby town of Peja/Pec in west Kosovo was one of the most devastated areas in all of Kosovo in the spring of 1999.